Former Full Tilt Poker executive Howard Lederer issued an apology for the events that led to the poker site failing to have funds on hand to pay all its players in the wake of 2011’s Black Friday.

Lederer, in part, said “I take full responsibility for Full Tilt’s failure to protect player deposits leading up to Black Friday.”

You can read the whole apology here, which was posted at poker pro Daniel Negreanu’s blog. Negreanu had been one of Lederer’s most vocal critics.

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The abbreviated history of Lederer and Full Tilt

In the wake of its domain being seized by the U.S. Department of Justice in April of 2011, Full Tilt was not able to refund all account balances because of a failure to segregate operational and player funds. PokerStars went on to buy the Full Tilt platform and refund all players.

Lederer, the public face of Full Tilt, settled a civil complaint stemming from Black Friday in 2012. He’s pretty much stayed out of the poker spotlight ever since, other than a series of interviews he did called the Lederer Files.

The Lederer apology, at a glance

Lederer does not get into much in the way of details about the events leading up to Full Tilt having a massive shortfall of funds, but endeavors to apologize. In the wake of Black Friday, Lederer admits that Full Tilt players “trusted the site, and they trusted me, and I didn’t live up to that trust.”

More from the apology:

I take full responsibility for Full Tilt’s failure to protect player deposits leading up to Black Friday. The shortfall in player deposits should never have happened. I should have provided better oversight or made sure that responsible others provided that oversight. I was a founder in the company that launched Full Tilt, and I became the face of the company’s management in the poker community. Many of our players played on the site because they trusted me.

At the same time, Lederer also deflects some of the blame, pointing out he really wasn’t in charge when things went down:

Even though I was no longer overseeing day to day operations, my inattention in the two years leading up to Black Friday imperiled players’ deposits. My involvement in Full Tilt from 2003-2008 put me in a unique position of trust—a trust that I disappointed by failing to ensure that Full Tilt was properly governed when I stepped away in 2008. My failure to make sure proper oversight was in place when I left resulted in the situation that began to unfold on Black Friday.

Why now for the Lederer apology?

It’s a curious time for an apology from Lederer, and years overdue, according to most of the poker-playing public that had money on Full Tilt when Black Friday happened.

Why now? First, the apology comes as the Full Tilt software platform is being retired and the player pool merged with PokerStars. That’s led to some nostalgia for Full Tilt — once the No. 2 online poker site worldwide and in the U.S. And perhaps that was what triggered Lederer to speak.

The other main theory of why Lederer apologized now? He might plan on showing up for the World Series of Poker that starts later this month. Negreanu hinted at that, writing, “My guess is that he just wants to be able to play poker again without the vitriol sent in his direction.”

We’ll find out if that theory is correct in short order — showing up without some sort of blanket apology before the WSOP in Las Vegas likely would have ended poorly for him.

Does anyone care that Lederer apologized now?

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Had Lederer apologized in 2012 or 2013, it might have been better received by the poker world. In 2016, the apology seems to be a day late and a dollar short.

Negreanu, for his part, accepted the apology, writing “I have no interest in continuing to hold my grudge against him.”

In talking about Lederer on Twitter soon after the apology became public, poker players’ reactions generally ranged from ambivalence to cynicism.

Many people had moved on from the Full Tilt debacle years ago, even though claims in the U.S. regarding player funds are still being dealt with today. The Lederer apology certainly tests the idea of “better late than never.”

Photo by flipchip / LasVegasVegas.com used under license CC BY-SA 3.0

July 28th, 2010 – by J. Smith

Over the past few years, Full Tilt has grown into one of the largest online poker rooms. With over 50,000 players logged in during peak hours, this poker room has risen the ranks to lie just behind the largest online poker room.

Many people are unaware of is Full Tilt’s shadowy status in the eyes of many players, but the majority of players still feel that Full Tilt is one of the most reputable poker sites online. Full Tilt has recently come under fire by some players, all complaining about losses allegedly chalked up to variance. Unfortunately for those that feel this way, Full Tilt seems to have taken variance to a new level, as it seems that, as some players will attest, the best starting hand can never win. This of course is not the case, but the number of bad beats on Full Tilt does continue to be a problem for some poker players.

“I have been playing at Full Tilt for over a year, and my losses cannot be chalked up to variance,” began Jon S., a player from South Florida. “I play live poker regularly and never have bad runs like I have had on Full Tilt. If I had one big blind for every time I got sucked out on to a river I would have a bankroll worth much more than any winnings I have ever earned on FTP.”

Full Tilt Poker Log In

The question over whether or not Full Tilt is rigged has been called into question on a regular basis, primarily through the Internet forum known as twoplustwo. The main complaint seen across the internet is that many players seem to think that the best hand never wins. Most players at Full Tilt that have complained are complaining about how often they get beat by a worse hand, and not because they think it is necessarily rigged.

“It has gotten to the point where I will not even play pocket aces on Full Tilt,” stated another online player, Ronald J. of California. “The only time I ever win with pocket aces is when my opponent carries pocket kings, which is probably just as depressing for them.”

When asked for proof, in the form of play statistics and charts, both Jon and Ronald have refused to offer up information regarding their style of play. Chances are this is because they do not have any proof and this is purely their opinion, as well as the opinion of thousands of other poker players that have played there.

Full Tilt Poker is not without its winners, but amount of players that win with bad hands on a regular basis is what brings Full Tilt and their trust into question. UltimateBet and Absolute Poker’s SuperUser scandal is just one way that an online poker room can cheat players, though this is definitely not the case with Full Tilt poker. There is no proof anywhere that Full Tilt Poker is not completely fair, and that is why over 75,000 players play on there every single day.

With the Barney Frank gambling bill currently working its way through congress, any bad press surrounding online poker is nothing but detrimental. With negative attention brought to online poker rooms such as Full Tilt, the regulation of online gambling could become more difficult. The regulation of online poker would actually bring plenty of other options for poker players to play online. There is plans to have live dealer online poker rooms available to USA players, where players will have a dealer that deals out the cards and players can see them being dealt live on their screen.

While Full Tilt was once one of the best USA poker rooms, it has slipped due to the negativity surrounding those who fail to win consistently. But, even with the negative publicity, Full Tilt continues to gain more players every day from all over the world. Other forms of USA online gambling, such as online casinos, are becoming much more popular over all, but they still have a little ways to go to catch online poker.

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